Creative industries: Definition, limits and possibilities

Abstract

The term "creative industries" fi rst arose in the 1990s to indicate sectors in which creativity is an essential business dimension. Creative industries include, among others, activities related to the cinema, theater, music and the plastic arts. In this introductory article we show the rise of the term within the domain of public economic development policies, we analyze the scientifi c literature about creative industries and we try and organize the various defi nitions of the term, by differentiating it from similar concepts, especially the concept of cultural industries. We argue that the phenomenon may constitute a fertile fi eld for investigation for researchers in Organizational Studies and we indicate some investigation trails to be explored. © RAE.